And now my impression of of a shipping obsessed fan, “GRAAAAAHHHH! THIS IS WRONG! *Character A* MUST BE WITH *Character C*! *Character B* is a *insert reason here, the more ridiculous the reason, the better*!”

As far as I know men have roughly the same time allotted to them as women, and the same capacity for dignity, principles, and self-respect. That said, I’m not sure ‘principles’ is the right word for Danny to use. The word ‘standards’, maybe, would be more appropriate. Not in a way offensive to Billie.

Well, yeah. Occam’s razor states that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, unless contradicted by other evidence. Assuming that Danny is telling the truth, which I’m inclined to think he is, the simplest explanation for why he was shirtless is that he forgot. Hell, even if you assume that he actually did have sex with Billie, this is still the most likely explanation for why he remained shirtless.

Also, and maybe it’s just me, but that was totally a cop-out, with all the teasing of sweeps week lesbian kisses on network tv and the same lack of dramatic pay off. I know it’s just a comic strip, but conflict comes from people making mistakes, not from being clear headed and resolving potential conflict off screen, and I feel like a great deal of potential dramatic interest was essentially thrown away.

Danny sleeping with billie would have been TERRIBLE writing. He’s been in a long term committed relationship until a week ago, and is still, by his own admission, confused about what he wants. He’s also repeatedly stated his views on casual sex. It would just be out of character for him to sleep with Billie like that. Not everything has to be a conflict, and the characters don’t always need to make mistakes:sometimes it’s nice to see one character who can make a healthy decision now and then.

Though it was blatant teasing. But hey, it’s a Willis Comic, what are you expecting?

To say nothing of the fact that the effect is still the same: regardless of whether they did it or not, Amber THINKS they did, and that situation is still going to need patching up. Therefore, plenty of conflict potential.

That’s not a real conflict, though, that’s a false conflict or pseudo conflict. Nothing has actually happened to throw a wrench into the possibility of their relationship, Danny has proven himself a decent, respectable man who doesn’t make mistakes even in the heat of the moment, and Amber merely misunderstood the situation. Since nobody has actually done anything at all, conflict cannot exist. This is a Three’s Company, sitcom “conflict” designed to intentionally have no effect on the characters after the end of the episode.

Real conflict would have been Danny wrestling with his opinion of himself after doing what he thought he wouldn’t, or Amber being forced to rethink her understanding of Danny, or Danny being forced to choose between the excitement of the new and what he thought he wanted. False conflict is Amber having to find out that she misunderstood and then everything is fine again.

Of course it goes against everything the character believes himself to be, which is exactly what would have made it interesting while still remaining a totally believable situation, because it is not a case of a character doing something completely out-of-character, it is a case of a character doing something that is completely, understandably human. Emotionally wounded, alone, thrust into a completely new situation which is culturally defined as a time of growth, change, and a redefinition of personal ideals, suddenly confronted by a radically new, unforseen situation, Danny gives into temptation and the heat of the moment to do something even moments prior he never would have thought possible. Totally realistic. Happens all the time.

Now, of course, what happened in the comic, Danny resisting temptation and rationally dealing with the situation is also completely realistic, and could have also been an interesting read if it hadn’t happened off camera. But merely being realistic does not make good fiction. As it is, there is no true conflict created by the story. Conflict was teased at and then wiped away.

At their very best, slice-of-life comics like these reflect the joy, tragedy, humor, and conflict of real life. I’m not saying the comic, as is, is bad, but I do believe the possibility of being better was missed when the author took the easy way out of a possibly volatile situation.

There are many different ways to put on a shirt, and they can often be an indicator of personality. Putting a shirt on less “messily” is a way to keep one’s hair from getting mussed up, but looking at Danny’s hair that’s clearly not a concern of his. So he just tosses himself into it any way he can.